Playlist Patented... Everyone Sued... But Did Apple Pay Up?

from the sounds-like-it dept

A bunch of folks have been submitting the latest story on a patent hoarding firm, Premier International Associates, who appears to have absolutely no other business than getting its hands on questionable, overly broad, obvious patents and then suing everyone possible. In this case, the patent is for the basic concept of a playlist, which can be found just about anywhere. So, it should come as little to no surprise that the list of companies sued is quite long, including: Microsoft, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, Viacom, Real, Napster, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Sandisk, HP, Acer, Gateway and Yahoo (phew!). That's quite a list, though it's not surprising to see that there are a ton of companies offering software that has a concept so basic and so obvious as a playlist.

However, there is one very interesting point here. Apple is missing from the list. As the folks over at Ars Technica figured out, Premier actually had sued Apple about this same patent back in 2005, but at the same time it was filing all these new patent lawsuits it filed to dismiss the Apple suit, suggesting that Apple most likely paid off the company (perhaps giving it the money needed to suddenly sue every other company in the universe. Apple certainly has a history of doing this. When the company was sued on a rather similar obvious patent on a hierarchical menu-based user interfaces held by Creative, it eventually (after spending some time fighting it) decided to simply pay $100 million to be left alone. Of course, all that did was allow Creative to head out and sue plenty of others. Sound familiar? By settling on these questionable patent claims, all Apple is doing is encouraging more lawsuits of this nature for itself, as well as others.

Re:

I had a playlist....

I used to keep a physical list of my movies on a piece of paper and would re-order my list using post-it notes of what I wanted to watch. The next logical step would be to digitalize it. Can I sue those companies too?

Re: I had a playlist....

Sounds like kidnapping

This sounds a lot like the rationale for not paying terrorists' ransoms for kidnapping victims, as the money only fuels the terrorists' other activities. Of course, to the family whose loved one is in jeopardy, that matters very little.

Here, we have a company whose product is basically threatened until the firm pays the ransom in the form of a licensing fee. Then the holding company uses those funds to terrorize other "infringers."

So...when do the airstrikes start on Premier International Associates' headquarters?

re:

Let's face it, these law suites are nothing more than people trying to make millions the only way the know how, and that is suing other companies with millions for what ever reason they can come up with.

Playlist.............

After more than 30 years on the road banging on a keyboard or a piano I guess our playlists are next, and just when I retired. I worked as a very gifted paralegal for 12 years and this just reminds me why I dont miss the profession.

Smart

Smart Apple. In an evil way. What do you expect..sigh.

Speaking of Apple, my iPod broke two weeks after my one year warranty ran out. I know several people who've had the same complaint. And unlike most electronic products, the iPod apparently can't be fixed. You can only turn in your useless dead one for a a little discount on a brand new one. It's a conspiracy. If I'd know the thing would only last a year, I wouldn't have spent over $100 on it.

Re: Smart

After more than 30 years on the road banging on a keyboard or a piano I guess our playlists are next, and just when I retired. I worked as a laptop AC adapter very gifted paralegal for 12 years and this just reminds me why I dont miss the profession.